You say macarons and I say macaroons

I’m a crier. I cry at the news. I cried when I left London. I cry when friends say they’re pregnant. I cry reading sad magazine articles. Hell, I cried when Charlene and Scott got married in Neighbours. And goodness, give me an episode of One Born Every Minute and I’m a heap of snivelling snot and salt water. (See, there’s a reason I stopped midwifery training after one paltry year.)

So it should come as no surprise then that the combination of egg whites and icing sugar and caster sugar and water and almonds have reduced me to tears. In short, macaroons/macarons (however you like to say it) were my nemesis. No longer though. I laugh in the face of them now. One of my fave flavour combinations is ginger and dark chocolate so I thought I’d blog about that recipe.

Here’s how I do it:

(Disclaimer: this works in my oven, which is a gas fan oven. Temperature is all with macaro(o)ns so please don’t hunt me down if your first batch fail, or your second come to think of it. I made ooh, about 1000 before I could rely on them working everytime. It was all down to getting to know my oven and tweaking the temperature. Dedicated? Yes. A bit nuts and obsessive? Yes. If you can’t be arsed I won’t hold it against you. Just order them from posh shops. Or make friends with me and I’ll hand deliver them on your birthday.)

Another note before starting – you need to invest if you want to make macaro(o)ns the way I make them. I didn’t say this was going to be easy or cheap or even good for your teeth. So here’s a list of special equipment you will need and may not have:

– a jam thermometer
– a small saucepan that won’t topple when the thermometer is placed in it – I use a milk pan
– a freestanding mixer with the whisk attachment
– a food processor with the blade attachment
– the top of a plastic milk bottle
– a piping bag (I use Lakeland disposable ones)
– a 5mm wide plain nozzle
– lots of cheap baking trays. I use 4/5 of these from Sainsburys
– reliable non stick greaseproof paper. I use this from Sainsburys
– a piece of card cut to fit the tray size. Light colour best. I use white.
– digital scales
– a fan oven – I have a regular and fan oven and have much better results in the fan.

a few pieces of crystallised ginger cut into rough squares about 1cm by 1cm. You need 30.

This recipe makes about 30 paired macaro(o)ns, so 60 shells altogether. Though depends how large you make them of course. Why make so many? Well it’s hard to boil sugar syrup with small quantities of sugar and still read the temp with the jam thermometer and frankly, these little things are a pain to make so I always think best to make in a batch large enough to bestow some lucky pal with a gift. However if they do fail the feeling of misery will be worse when making 60 shells than 20. That’s my warning to you as someone who knows that pain.

I am going to write the stages in numbered steps to try and keep things simple.

1.) Take the egg whites out of the fridge. Leave on the side to get to somewhere near room temperature before you start.

2.) Boring bit. Cut greaseproof paper to fit all your baking trays. You will need four or five covered dependent on how large the trays are. Place the paper onto the trays curly side down and stack on top of each other. The place something flat on the very top of the stack. We’re trying to achieve flat greaseproof paper here folks.

3.) Make your template by taking the card you’ve already cut to fit the trays and drawing around a milk top (I use the plastic milk top from a supermarket 4 pinter) with a black pen. Use the milk top as a guide to space the circles out. (So draw one circle, then leave a space the same size, then draw one, etc – I get 16 on my trays in a 4 x 4 formation.) Do not forget to leave a space at the sides too or you will have burnt macaro(o)n edges. And beware, don’t try to cram as many circles onto the card as possible thinking it will save time. You need the space for both spreading and also so that the macs don’t steam each other when baking.

4.) Weigh the icing sugar and place in the food processor. Weigh the almonds and place on top of the icing sugar in the food processor. Do the same with the cocoa. Do it in this order of you may risk making almond butter in the corners of your machine. You don’t want to release almond oil from the nuts. Whizz up for about 90 seconds using the blade attachment. Then have a good dig about with a sharp knife to dislodge any icing sugar, cocoa and almondy bits, pop the lid back on and whizz again for 60 seconds. Set aside.

5.) Weigh out half the egg whites (72g) and place in a large bowl. Must be large as you’ll be adding all sorts later. Put the other half of the egg whites into the very clean bowl of the freestanding mixer. The clean bit is important. If you last made a cake in this mixture give it a good scrub and even think about wiping the sides with a lemon to remove any hint of grease. Grease buggers up your egg white volume.

6.) Sieve the almond, cocoa and icing sugar mixture into the large bowl with half your raw egg whites already in it. I use a medium grain sieve (grain – is that even the right term??) and if you have any large almondy bits left over throw them away. Please don’t use a very fine sieve as you’ll end up throwing away half your nuts. Don’t force them through the sieve either. If you skip this step then you won’t have shiny shelled macaro(o)ns. Up to you. Use a spatula to combine. It might look like there isn’t enough liquid but there is. Keep mixing. You do not need to fold or do anything special at this stage. Just mix until combined and have a good scrape at the bottom of the bowl to ensure no powder left.

7.) Weigh the water into the small saucepan, then weigh the caster sugar onto the top. If you do it this way round you can have an accident with pouring the water without having to throw loads of sugar away. (Speaking from experience of over zealous water pouring.) Place your jam thermometer into the pan and place on your smallest hob ring.

8.) At the same time that you turn the hob onto a medium heat to boil the sugar and water also start to whisk the egg whites in the freestanding mixer. Do the whisking on a medium speed. (NB: I sometimes have to slightly tip my whole mixer to get the whisk to ‘pick up’ the egg whites. Sure this is not recommended by Kenwood but it works for me.) Once the egg whites reach stiff peaks stop whisking.

9.) NB: Remove kids and animals from the kitchen at this point if they haven’t already wandered off in boredom. Now watch your sugar syrup like a hawk. It might have a lump in the middle where the sugar hasn’t dissolved yet. If this has happened, give the pan a little shake from side to side whilst still over the heat to dislodge the sugar, being sure to hold onto the thermometer tight. Boil the sugar and water mixture until it reaches 115C. At this point turn the freestanding mixer back on, whisking your already stiff egg whites on a low speed. They might have broken up a little since you turned the machine off but worry not. Just whisk until they come back together.

10.) When the sugar reaches 118C turn the hob off and pour the boiling sugar in a steady stream into the egg whites with the machine still running. I find the best way to do this is to start off holding the pan low, just above the bowl of the mixer, make sure the stream is going to hit the egg whites, (not the side of the bowl) then pull upwards as I pour to achieve a thin and long stream of boiling sugar. This is clearly not for the faint hearted. You must get the sugar to flow straight onto the whisking eggs and not down the side of the mixing bowl. If it all hits the bowl first then it will solidify on contact with the cold bowl and you won’t end up making meringue. Your egg whites will essentially be without enough sugar. Worry not if it does leave some blobs of molten sugar on the bowl. They look like they’ll never come off but they will. Very hot water and Fairy does the trick. Turn the mixer onto a medium speed at this point and leave to whizz until the mixer bowl feels cool. Takes about 7 minutes.

11.) Once your Italian meringue (for that is what we’ve been making in the mixer) looks all white and glossy and holds peaks and is cool enough for you to touch the bowl you’re ready to start the hard bit. Now please don’t despair if you can see little grains of sugar that look like specks in the meringue. This is not a problem at all though it’s a bit upsetting I know. Turn the mixer off and scrape the meringue into the large bowl holding your raw egg white and almondy mixture. Then take a spatula (I use a silicone one) and start to gently mix and beat the contents together. Don’t fold the mixture; you’re trying to remove air, not add it. The aim here is to have a mass of macaro(o)n batter that’s glossy and homogeneous. Search the bottom of the bowl for bits that aren’t combined. They hide there.

12.) Now you need to press the spatula against the side of the bowl, keep the end on the bottom of the bowl and sweep to the other side of the bowl in a firm, steady movement. You should see a parting of the macaro(o)n batter sea. Now start counting. After 30 seconds the ‘sea’ should disappear back into a mound of batter. If this does not happen, stir the batter again. Don’t be shy. It needs firm handling. Give it 3 more turns and then part the sea again. If you still have a stiff batter then give it one turn and try again. Keep going. It can take a while. Don’t be tempting to beat the hell out of it in desperation. If you do then it’s curtains. I know as I’ve done it. (Temper? Me? Well yes.)

13.) Find a pint glass or measuring jug. Put the nozzle into the bottom of the icing bag, cut the bottom of it off to expose just the end of the nozzle, then twist the bag above the nozzle and place the whole thing into the pint glass nozzle end down. Curl the open end of the piping bag over the pint glass edges. This is the easiest way I know to fill a piping bag. Add a spoonful or two of batter. Take a plate and pipe one macaro(o)n shell onto it. The way I pipe is to hold the bag at a right angle to the surface, place the nozzle over the middle of where I want the macaro(o)n to be, about 4mm from the tray/plate and push the batter out with the other hand at the top of the piping bag. I stop piping when I’m 2mm from where I want the edge of the circle of batter to be. This allows for spreading. But please do it how you like. Youtube is full of examples of piping wizardry. One tip I’ve found useful is to keep the nozzle at the same point throughout, even though some of the batter will then splurge up the sides of the nozzle. If you pull it upwards in a flourish as you finish off you will have a nipple effect that’s hard to sort out.

14.) Now wait 30 seconds. Have a good look at the shell you have just piped. It should have no nipple effect or a very tiny one that is easily smoothed with your finger. (Don’t dip your finger in water – this has made my macs explode in the oven – not sure why!) If you have a huge nipple effect then pipe the rest of the batter back into the bowl and go back to stage 12. Repeat this and stages 13 and 14 until you have a batter where the nipple disappears after 30 seconds. Sorry for banging on about nipples in an unsavoury fashion but this bit’s important if you want perfectly smooth shells. And ALWAYS better to under turn the mixture than over turn. You can’t un-turn the batter and what tends to happen with over turned batter are macaro(o)ns that spread into odd shapes and ‘feet’ that are very very short. If you’re not obsessed by macaro(o)n feet and want to know more just google it. People write tomes on feet.

NB: I know this stage is dull, dull, dull but please stick with it. If you get this bit wrong all your hard work will have been for nothing. I have lost my patience and temper many a time at this point and ended up throwing huge bowls of batter in the bin whilst swearing and crying. Most undignified.

15.) Once the batter is perfect, pop the template under the greaseproof paper on the first tray and, with a half full icing bag, pipe those macaro(o)n shells! Keep going (and refilling the bag and repositioning the template on new trays) until you have no batter left. Slam the macaro(o)n covered trays onto your work surface with a good ‘bash’ to bring any air bubbles to the top. I do this about 3 times with each tray. I used to take a toothpick to my macs to burst bubbles but have found leaving them for 30 mins minimum to produce a shell means this step is redundant. Then simply leave the shells to form a skin. You need somewhere coolish, though not the fridge and not steamy. So for me that’s on top of the stereo and speakers in the dining room. Just don’t tell Mr. B. Wait for 30 minutes. I often number my trays in the order they were piped to make sure they each get their 30 minute rest. Don’t worry if they get longer than 30 minutes though. An hour won’t hurt them at all. Or longer even.

16.) Remove all racks from the oven other than one left in the middle. Preheat the fan oven to Gas 3/160C and once it’s preheated (15 minutes in my book) place one tray of macs into the oven. I always place mine towards the front and away from the back left hand side as I have a massive hot spot there. If you know you have hot spots then do the same. Do not be tempted to save time by whacking a load of trays in at a time. The air needs to circulate. Plus the top and bottom of the oven are hotter and colder than the temp you want. Set your timer/phone for 12 minutes.

17.) After 12 minutes open the oven door. You should have a line of macaro(o)ns with perfect feet that have risen at right angles with flat tops to the shells. Push the top of the macaro(o)n nearest to you very gently. It should not ‘wobble’ – ie/ it should feel firmly attached to the feet. If you are able to gently push it a little to the side then close the door and leave 2 more mins. Then check again. Once the ‘wobble’ has gone then take them out. Place on a wire rack and put the next batch in.

18.) Let the macs cool for 5 minutes. Please don’t try and peel them off the paper before then or they’re liable to break up. Carefully peel one of the central macs (central important here as middle ones are last to bake) off the paper. If it won’t come off then it’s undercooked and you need to pop it back in the oven for a few minutes. No harm done.

19.) Make the ganache for the filling. Chop the dark chocolate. Put the cream into a small pan. Place on a medium heat until it just starts to boil. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate and then stir using a metal spoon until completely combined and smooth. It must be smooth otherwise you will have problems pushing lumps of choc through the nozzle when piping. Set aside and leave to cool at room temperature. You can speed it up by thickening in the fridge if you’re short of time but you risk the ganache near the edges of the pan solidifying before the middle does. Voila – lumps! If you leave at room temperature it will thicken as it cools – give it a stir every 5 mins of so to stop lumps forming. (NB: If it thickens too much pre filling the macs worry not – just gently, very gently, reheat on the hob until slightly molten again. Stir and let thicken to piping consistency again.)

20.) Once all the macaro(o)n shells are cooked and peeled start to pair them up into matching sizes. Despite using the template there will still be lots of different sizes. Then when the ganache is thick to the point where it’s almost set (but not so thick it won’t pipe – think cream cheese consistency) place it in a piping bag (as before) and pipe circles of ganache around the outside of one half of each pair of shells. Leave a hole in the middle and place a square of crystallised ginger in it. Then place the matching shell on top of the one with the filling on it and press down gently. Place on a plate and leave in the fridge for 2 days before eating them. The almond meringue melts into the filling and makes for an altogether more dreamy macaro(o)n eating experience.

You might have some ganache left over. If you do simply let it solidify then roll into balls and dip in crushed hazelnuts/popping candy/crushed pistachios for some homemade truffles. Yum.

If you’re still with me at this point please accept my sincere apologies for the longest blog post known to man. I salute you for staying with me.

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1,061 comments

I am so pleased to have found your recipe and very clear instructions…I had my first attempt at making macaroons a few days ago and they were a complete disaster! So hopefully I can now perfect my macaron making, thank you!

Great recipe, although I will need to make sure I have patience in a abundance when I try it and I should also say – amazing instructions!

You recommended that these can be frozen in advance of need. Sorry to ask such daft questions but at what stage should they be frozen (pre or post pairing/filling)? How long can they be frozen for? And how long do they take to defrost? I may be making them for my sister’s wedding in mid-June and need to know what I am letting myself in for before making any firm commitment (we’re currently exploring all the macarons options!).

They can be frozen for a couple of weeks – freeze after baking. If simple ganache filling them you can fill and then freeze, if something you’re not sure about in terms of defrosting then freeze as shells, defrost in the fridge overnight and then fill. You can defrost the filled ones in the fridge too. If I were you I’d age some egg whites, make a batch at the weekend, pop in the freezer and get out in 2 weeks to see if you’re happy with the results. And unless you’re really into making macs I’d probably do something easier like beautiful iced biscuits or truffles or just sweeties. Weddings are to be enjoyed, not slaved over!! xxx

I personally don’t think so but I know others will disagree. I hear you can fake the aging process by microwaving the whites on a very low heat in 5 second bursts. Obviously you don’t want to cook them though! The aim is to evaporate a little of the water in them. Hope that helps. Xx Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Panic Over!! I thought I was meant to be making them yesterday but instead i opted out as yesterday was a very busy day and I had not even aged my whites at all. But they are in the fridge now and have been since yesterday and i am all ready for tomorrow to make the chocolate orange, chocolate mint and caramel mecaroons that were on gbbo. Bit scared about the hot sugar syrup as a little while ago i made praline and burn the tip of my finger with the hot sugar ( still got a scar on finger) but hopefully all will go to plan!! :)

Thank you so much for the super-detailed recipe; until now I couldn’t understand why the ones that I see in shops and on TV are so very different from the ones that my Mum made. She used raw egg white and made them onto rice paper and they had half an almond on top. Their surfaces were lightly cracked all over and they were chewy inside and crisp o top and you ate them singly along with the rice paper stuck to the bottom. They were delicious, but a totally different animal to these sophisticated and flavoured patisserie delights.

Wow! This must be hands-down The Best guide to making macaroons at home – thanks very much indeed for posting it in such detail. Given how complex they are to make, it’s only with a guide like this that you stand a chance of pulling it off in a domestic kitchen. Much obliged to you!

Thanks to being foolish enough to agree to a macaroon bake off with a friend after a couple of drinks, I’ve found myself having to learn how to make them really fast (I’d never made one before taking up the challenge).

Thanks to a mutual friend posting about your blog on facebook I thought I’d look your recipe up and as it seems to be really detailed and the end results look amazing I thought I’d try my hand at using it. It was all going well (to my mind at least) until step 11/12, for some reason my mixture is really runny and rather than it coming back together after thirty seconds it takes less than five! Before that my meringue was looking nicely stiff and the other stuff looked how I thought it should so I cant help wondering where i’ve blundered. Did you come across this problem when you were learning how to make them? Have you any suggestions on how to tackle this problem? Part of me thinks it could be to do with having to beat the mixture, all I do to it seems to add more air! Is there something on Youtube that is a good example of what I should be doing there? How long should this stage take?

Sorry for the long message, im just hoping to be able to bake something recognisable when I do the challenge.

Sounds like you have over beaten the mixture. Slowly slowly is the key. Give it one ‘turn’ then try and part the macaroon sea and so on until you have the 30 second consistency. In time you will just know when to stop but for the first 20 or so batches go slowly. I found youtube sometimes useful but to be honest I didn’t find a definitive clip of what I was looking for so there’s nothing I can recommend. Good luck! I don’t know of anyone who’s managed to make them perfectly first time. xxx

Hurrah! It worked! I went with the macaron paste ocean filling up and this seemed to work. I’m afraid, had I got to step 14 and had to redo, I might have torn my hair out, and have run out of patience at that point!! Now I have made them once it will definitely be quicker though. They are delicious. I put amaretto in my ganache instead of ginger (it was handy.. and what better to add to almond macarons?!)

I wonder, though, whether my ‘feet’ are too small and macaron shells too flat. How would I increase foot size(!) without them being too bubbly inside once cooked? Or just, should they be rising more? I need to go and buy some from laduree and inspect, taste and compare. (An excuse to buy macarons? Never!)

Thank you Holly, for your excellent instructions. I really like the way you write, too! (Oh, and I tip my Kenwood to the side to pick up stray mix too. All the time…. Kenwood should make a tilting ‘chef’!)

Pleased they worked well for you! They really are a labour of love aren’t they!! This recipe gives flat shells and short feet similar in appearance to the ones sold in Harrods by Lauderee. I think for bigger feet you may need a different recipe. Xx Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

Have always been too scared to even think about making macaroons, but after this I think I need to give it a few goes. Also how would I change the flavour of this recipe? (I want to make non-chocolate macaroons)

Hey Alice – remove the cocoa and if you are using food colouring (I gather you would want to colour the shells) then use gel paste only (I use Colourcraft) and add to the boiling sugar. I use the centres as a method of flavouring the macaroons which I think is pretty standard. x

after reading the above and with careful consideration, i do feel that the “becoming your friend” option appeals more to me! lol! i will attempt these delightful little blighters one day i suppose, but for the time being i’ll stick to cupcakes (esp as my 3 girls would demolish all my hard work in seconds flat! – girls always have lots of friends, a batch of 25 cookies didn’t even have time to cool before a had 12 girls here!)
well done on your fantastic achievement on the bake off, i enjoyed watching you all.
your “new best friend!” (lol!) xx

At last, a comprehensive macaron recipe! I bought a book on the subject, and it didn’t go into as much detail as you’ve done, and I couldn’t work out why they hadn’t worked. Definitely going to give this one a try, and will let you know how I get on!

Yummy, I was watching GBBO, when you were making your macaroons & found your site and the recipe! So I tried it out and your recipe was great. Very yummy, had to use choclate butter cream because I didn’t have any choclate for ganache & I probarly would of eaten it before using it, hehe :). although took 6 hours to make them, I now will look at every macaroon and remember how much effort it took to make it!! Thankyou for the recipe, here’s a picture, I will upload it on facebook aswell as my blog, thankyou!Goodluck!hope you win! Becky :)

Wonderful post! Loved it! I have to own up though, I don't make my own macarons very often as I can buy them so easily and cheaply in France! I know, I should have a go one day, but when the patisserie has such an amazing array on offer I have become lazy! I am tempted to try them again now as you make it sound so easy, my last batch about 5 years ago were just okay…..I want perfection this time!Karen

Fascinating, I couldn't wait to see what you used the milk bottle top for. What a great step-by-step guide and well done for mastering macaroons – they look perfect. I do not have your patience so generally go with … if they taste good, that will have to do. So thinking I'd better make friends with you fast ;-)

I haven't seen parchment sheets – sound good! I have tried using silpat too – that reusable greaseproof stuff but have not had great results.

I've seen that set in Lakeland. My gut instinct is that the only thing that's unique and not easy to buy elsewhere is the tray that has mac shape indents to stop the filling spreading. My concern would be that you might not see that your mixture has been over worked (mac batter spreads into odd shapes when over worked) if you had a ridge holding it in a perfect circle.

The piping bag, nozzles, stand for filling (I use a pint glass) are all standard stuff you can buy easily. Having said all this who knows! I'd love to try it out but not willing to spend £35 on it I'm afraid.

Hi Holly, thanks for the tip about flattening greaseproof paper. I haven't made macaroons before but I make cookies quite often and it drives me mad trying to get the (quite stiff) mixture to go properly onto the curly paper! An alternative tip I have found is to get parchment sheets from Lakeland, they're about £5 for 50 but save the hassle of curliness.Also I have seen in Lakeland (big Lakeland fan, can you tell?!) a new macaroon set including a tray with ridged circles marked on in silicone to pipe your shells onto, it looks like you could make 56, just wondered from your experience if you thought that would be helpful to a novice macaroon baker or a massive waste of money?!

Rosie – yes! I am fascinated to know if anyone has worked out how to mass produce them yet. I think prob not as so much down to judging consistency and checking humidity etc. Hope yours are good. Say a little prayer to the Mac God. x

Claire – only two small ovens on a range cooker so they're actually both a bit useless as don't fit normal sized pans/trays/roasting tins in. Next time I buy an oven I'm taking my Christmas turkey tin with me! x

Dear Holly,I just wanted to leave you a little message to say that I'm a quite a fan of The Great British Bake Off, and that I think you're completely wonderful and I hope very much that you win. Your recipes are always lovely and I always want to eat whatever you make. Also, I think you're beautiful(my Mother says you remind her of Keira Knightley). Good luck with whatever you do. x

@Helena – I can't stress enough how much these little things drove me to distraction! Hope this works for you. Try a cold day without humidity for best results. And maybe start off making half a batch as you get used to your oven and how macs react to it. x

Holly – thank you for this; I had a go last weekend with a different recipe which left me with slightly pathetic looking flat macaroons, so I will try your method next. Fingers crossed; yours look amazing!

@Iwanttobakefree – ha ha – I may well need to go into hiding. These little buggers work for me but I have a feeling it's 'cause I made 1000 first. The Mac Gods demand that kind of dedication before they bless you with a prefect batch.

@Nicola – I wanted to get it all down in case anyone really wants to desperately make them. Maybe a little too much of an essay!

@Jesss – buy them! I hear Waitrose sell them. Much easier and less expensive than buying a £200 mixer!

@Jo – Maybe a belated pressie. Swap for some cupcakes??

@Anon – thanks for the support! Pleased your other half will benefit.

@Janice – they really are one half of your weekend gone!

@Philippa – They are little beasts to be sure. But once you've mastered them it's a good feeling. x

I've read this with a sense of amazement at your dedication… And a longing for a sugar thermometer and an endless supply of patience!I wish I could say I was going to try these but I know it would be a doomed mission so I'm not going to bother, at least not yet…

Right that's my weekend sorted then! I shall be taking photos of the results and if they aren't perfect first time I shall be back here to complain. Well done with getting this all down. xxx

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Holly Bell

I’m a mum of 3 boys, a cookbook writer and also a finalist on the 2011 Great British Bake Off.
I’ve decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere and partly in case someone else might like to use them...
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